Gardeners will give candy and glow bracelets out from 6-7:30p.m. to neighborhood trick or treaters.

Parking is very limited. Best bet is to park in the lower metro/ngate park and ride lot at 5th Ave. N.E. and N.E. 103rd, and cross the street to our garden. Do not park in the medical bldg lot next to theP-Patch They tow.

October 11th, 2016 by Mike

Alicia this week emails: “Maple Leaf Life, as Halloween falls on a Monday, when are most neighborhoods doing trick or treating? For most families, trick or treating on a weeknight is difficult. Would it be Saturday or Sunday night for Maple Leaf?”

Also, for several years now there has been a daytime Parade of Costumes through the neighborhood on the Sunday before Halloween, often drawing over a hundred kids. From talk over at the Maple Leaf Parents Facebook group, it looks like it’s on this year, tho we haven’t yet received anything official. -M

Now there’s a little more information on the (NEW!) Ace Hardware sign, above.

October 30th, 2015 by Mike

Zombies got nothing on the Halloween forecast this year.

From the National Weather Service forecast discussion for Seattle, a front moving tonight and INTO SATURDAY ACROSS THE AREA (RESULTS) IN AN 18 HOUR PERIOD OF VERY HEAVY RAINFALL IN THE MOUNTAINS AND WINDY CONDITIONS IN THE LOWLANDS.

The Maple Leaf Dog Oasis regrets this forecast.

Last Halloween the Dog Oasis reported a final tally of 144 kids, 34 adults and 13 dogs. Down slightly from 2013.

It did rain, last year, 2.06 inches from Halloween eve into Halloween.

So maybe there’s hope. Dogs! Come to the Oasis for special Halloween treats!

On the ominous hand, though, The New York Times’ front page today is full of flying chainsaws.

October 25th, 2015 by Mike

The seventh annual parade – which almost didn’t happen – drew at least 170 people (and four dogs) by starting time at Rick’s Chevron, Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 85th Street.

Despite the last-minute planning, this is possibly the second-biggest turnout for the parade. Congratulations to Donna Hartmann-Miller, who started and led the parade for years, and to Michelle Deang Hamilton and friends, who pulled it off this year.

The parade will start at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, at the north end of the parking lot at Rick’s Chevron, winding thru and trick-or-treating and ending at Maple Leaf Park. Join in the whole route or part of the route (entire route is about 1.25 miles and will hopefully take about an hour to walk, including the trick-or-treating), whatever works with your schedule, walking endurance, and the length of your legs.

If you live along the route and want to hand out treats, we ask you bring any goodies to the sidewalk so trick-or-treating can keep moving along the route. If you don’t live along the route and would like to hand out treats, meet us at the end of the parade at the park. How many participants? Plan on 150, although the weather will no doubt affect that number.

October 19th, 2015 by Mike

It’s now less than two weeks before Halloween (Saturday, Oct. 31st) and we have had several readers inquire:

“What about the hugely popular Parade of Costumes?”

Rachel, for example: “Hi. Do you know when the Halloween parade will be this year?”

The answer is no. At the moment there does not appear to be a plan for what would be the Seventh Annual Maple Leaf Parade of Costumes, an event that has drawn hundreds in the past.

Donna Hartmann-Miller, the ubiquitous force behind the parade for the past six years, emails that she can’t handle it this fall.

“I had put out a call for someone to take this over this year, but no one has stepped up for it. Typically it happens the Sunday before Halloween, but it would be up to the person who wants to organize it.

“If anyone contacts me, I will put it out on our email, on our Facebook page, there will probably be a poster at the park kiosk and I assume you will put it on Maple Leaf Life, yes?

“If you hear of anyone interested, they can contact me and I will tell them what was done in the past and provide whatever support I can.”